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Monday, September 23, 2013

Vatican
City, 22 September 2013 (VIS) – This morning Pope Francis arrived
in Cagliari, on the Italian island of Sardinia, on his second
pastoral visit in Italy, following his first trip to the Lampedusa in
Sicily. Both islands are affected by serious problems: in Sicily, the
arrival of immigrants, and in Sardinia, the lack of work on account
of the closure of many factories.

The
pontiff transferred from Cagliari airport to Largo Carlo Felice,
where he was awaited by the religious and civil authorities, along
with many people holding banners demanding work. Before the Pope's
address, a young unemployed person, an entrepreneur and a union
member spoke about their experiences. Moved by their words, Francis
set aside the text he had prepared and spoke off the cuff.

“With
this meeting I wish above all to express my closeness, especially in
situations of suffering: to many young unemployed, to those in
receipt of employment insurance or in precarious employment, and to
struggling small businesses. It is a situation I know well from my
experience in Argentina. I personally have not experienced this
difficulty but my family has; my father, at a young age, went to
Argentina full of illusions about 'finding America'. And he suffered
throughout the terrible depression of the 1930s. They lost
everything! There was no work! And at home, during my childhood, I
heard talk of this time, of this suffering. … But I must say to
you: 'Have courage!'. But I am also aware I have to do everything on
my side too, so that this word 'courage' is not simply a beautiful
but passing word, so that it is not simply the cordial smile of an
priest, of an employee of the Church who comes and says to you, 'have
courage'! No! I don't want that. I want this courage to come from
within and to enable me to do all I can as a shepherd, as a man. We
must face this with solidarity, among yourselves but also between us;
we must face this historical challenge with solidarity and
intelligence”.

“This
is the second city I have visited in Italy. It is interesting to note
that both – the first, and this one – are islands. In the first I
witnessed the suffering of many people who risked their lives in
search of dignity, bread, health: the world of refugees. And I saw
the response of that city which, being an island, did not want to be
isolated, and … gives us a fine example of welcome. … Here, in
this second city-island I visit, again here I find suffering. … A
suffering, the lack of work, that leads you to … feel as if you are
without dignity! Where there is no work, there is no dignity! And
this is not a problem solely in Sardinia … or only of Italy and
certain countries in Europe, it is the consequence of a worldwide
choice, an economic system that leads to this tragedy, an economic
system that has at its centre the idol of money”.

“God
did not want there to be an idol at the centre of the world, but
rather that men and women bring the world ahead through their work.
But now, in this system devoid of ethics, at the centre there is an
idol, the world has become an idolater of this 'money-god'. Money
commands! Cash commands! All that serves this idol commands. And what
happens? To defend this idol, we pile up all our resources in the
centre and the outer extremes fall by the wayside. The elderly fall,
because in this world there is no place for them! Some speak of this
habit of 'hidden euthanasia', of not caring for them, of not taking
them into consideration. … And the young fall by the wayside too,
as they cannot find work and dignity. This world has no future. Why?
Because they have no dignity! It is difficult to have dignity without
work”.

“This
is your suffering, here. This is the prayer you call out: 'Work,
work, work'. It is a necessary prayer. Work means dignity, work means
bringing home bread, work means love! To defend this idolatrous
system we have established a 'throwaway culture': we set aside our
grandparents and set aside the young. And we must say 'no' to this
throwaway culture'. We must say, 'We want a just system! A system
that lets all of us move ahead!' We must say, 'We no longer want this
globalised economic system, that does us so much harm!' Men and women
should be at the centre, not money!”

“I
had written a number of things to say to you, but, looking at you,
these words came to me instead. … I preferred to say to you what
came into my heart, looking at you in this moment! I know it is easy
to say, never lose hope. But to all, to all of you, those who have a
job and those of you who do not, I say, 'Do not allow your hope to be
taken from you!' … Perhaps hope is like the smouldering embers
below the ashes; let us help ourselves in solidarity, let us blow on
the ashes to reignite the flames. Hope leads us on. That isn't
optimism, it is something else. But hope is not for one person alone,
hope is something we do together! We must keep hope alive together,
all of you, and all of us, who are so far away. … So, I say to you:
'Do not be robbed of hope!'. But we must be clever, as the Lord says
that the idols are more cunning than we are. The Lord invites us to
have the cunning of the snake with the goodness of the dove. We must
have this cunning, and call things by their proper name. In this
moment, in our current economic system, in our proposed globalised
system of life, there is an idol at the centre and this cannot be!
Let us struggle together to restore to the centre, at least in our
lives, men, women and the family, all of us, so that hope might live
on'.

“I
would like to finish by praying with all of you, in silence, in
silence, praying with all of you. I will say what comes to my heart
and, in silence, pray with me. Lord God, look at us! Look at this
city, this island. Look at our families. Lord, you had work, you were
a carpenter, and you were happy. Lord, we have no work. Idols try to
rob us of our dignity. Unjust systems rob us of hope. Lord, do not
leave us alone. Help us to help ourselves; so that we leave our
selfishness behind and feel in our hearts the 'we' of a people who
wish to forge ahead. Lord Jesus, who did not lack work, give us work
and teach us how to strive for work, and bless us all”.